If Cleganebowl Happens on ‘Game of Thrones’ The Mountain Is ‘100 Percent’ Sure He’d Win

One thing all Game of Thrones fans — book readers, show watchers, bloggers, everyone — can agree on is that Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane and his brother Sandor “The Hound” must eventually meet again and fight in what is known as Cleganebowl.

Who would win in such a clash is a whole other matter. To start with the obvious, The Mountain has a clear size advantage — but then again, he’s a zombie now so who really knows what he’s physically capable of these days. The Hound, once a despised villain, has undergone a humanizing transition since re-emerging after losing his fight with Brienne in Season 4. But when Game of Thrones gets you to sympathize with a character, that's often the mark of imminent, excruciating death. Just ask the final victim of the (pre-zombie) Mountain, Oberyn Martell, whose face got smashed and oh god why did we bring this up...

One man, however, feels quite certain who would win, and he is the actually mountainous Hafthor Julius Bjornsson, the 6-foot-9-inch-tall, 400-pound actor who plays The Mountain. Asked by Entertainment Weekly about whether the possible battle between the Clegane brothers will happen, he had quite a bit to offer, starting with this:

That’s definitely something I would like to see. And for most of the fans, it’s something they’re all waiting for. It looks like it’s going to go that way, but who knows?

Argh! Why’d he have to add those last three words? Anyway, the interview continues:

How do you think that fight would end?
I haven’t seen it yet in my head how I would kill him, but somehow I would smash his head or kill him like that. I think the fight would be quick rather than something long. I think people would be expecting a big fight but I would finish him really fast. It would be a surprise to people.

So you think The Mountain would win then?
100 percent.

We suppose that’s not particularly shocking, though Bjornsson does add later that "I think it’s pretty obvious [The Mountain is] going to die in a fight" — but a fight with who? He doesn't say. However, there are numerous clues that the long-awaited Cleganebowl may, finally, at last, be about to happen.

One major hint is geographical. You can’t have a Cleganebowl without both Cleganes in the same place (duh), and they’ve been far, far apart for a long, long time. But at the end of last week’s penultimate Season 7 episode, The Hound began his trek back to King’s Landing alongside Jon Snow to meet with Queen Cersei. Standing beside Cersei will no doubt be her bodyguard, The Mountain.

That sure looks a lot like The Hound swinging his sword in what sure looks a lot like the Dragonpit outside King’s Landing, which is where we saw everyone meeting in the preview for this Sunday’s season finale. So, who will win? Who will die? Only HBO knows for sure. But it’s getting closer.